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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29514348">Last Man Standing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YokoHogawa/pseuds/YokoHogawa'>YokoHogawa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fade to Black [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Rewrite, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Established Relationship, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk &amp; Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance pilots Black (briefly), Langst, M/M, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), klangst, not beta read we die like idiots, set at the end of season3/beginning of season 4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 03:07:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29514348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YokoHogawa/pseuds/YokoHogawa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Things between Keith and Lance are changing but Keith is restless, especially with Shiro still weak, and ends up taking a bad decision: he leaves Lance alone in the Castle with a Lion he cannot pilot. Unable to form Voltron without the newly appointed Red Paladin, the four Paladins left struggle against the sudden attack of a Galra ship and later on take damage from the explosion of a star in close proximity. Lance, on the other end, is left to defend the Castle by himself and has little time to succeed: without energy, the Lions have only 6 hours of breathable air. Beyond that point, his friends will be dead.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fade to Black [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>190</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Last Man Standing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, I’m kinda new in the Voltron fandom. Hi there. Read a f*ck ton of fics for the most part of last year and decided I wanted to write a couple on my own because you know, when you can’t find exactly what you want to read the only option is to write it.</p>
<p>I’m a Lance estimator. Yes, I do think he deserved a proper character arc and a better plot development than season 8 had to offer, but I’m not going there right now. Those are dangerous waters. But I like seeing Lance doing his best without ending up every time as the clumsy comic relief, so that’s the Lance I’m going to write. Or trying to.</p>
<p>This is the first of a trilogy, because I don't know when to stop. Endgame Black Paladin Lance because he deserves it, so I'm gonna give it to him.</p>
<p>English is not my first language, you probably already noticed. Please feel free to point out any mistakes you find, it will help me improve. Hope you like what you read &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lance woke up in pain. His left side throbbed in time with his heartbeat and his first deep breath came out in a chocked groan. He curled up, breathing slowly, until the pain finally subsided. Only then sounds filtered in.</p>
<p>An alarm was blaring. The hangar was dark, lit only by flashing emergency lights. Looking around, he noticed he had been thrown to the opposite side of where he was standing when Keith took off, leaving him behind.</p>
<p>He didn’t have a clue about what was happening. He remembered Coran picking up a Galran ship on their sensors, popped out of nowhere in a quadrant otherwise devoid of any peril. Allura ordering them to go to the Lions and then…</p>
<p>Lance cautiously stood up, leaning onto the wall he had impacted with. His left hip throbbed something fierce when he tried to walk but he quickly adapted to the pain. He had been worse. Emotionally too.</p>
<p>He looked for the last time at the hangar doors, sealed shut now that Red wasn’t in there anymore. He would think about it later. One problem at a time.</p>
<p>He limped to the exit door, using the manual mechanism to open it. He hastened trough the intricate and empty corridors towards the command bridge. The halls were different now that sharp, red flashing lights had replaced the dim sky-blue light. The entire Castle seemed to be in an emergency state and it wasn’t good news.</p>
<p>When he finally reached the command bridge he had to open the doors manually, as he had with every door on his path, and once inside he looked for the only other person on board: Coran. He spotted him on the ground in front of one of the side console, all the terminals inactive and the main screen switched off. The bridge had no energy whatsoever so they had no information about the systems, engines and external sensor. They were virtually blind. On the other side of the massive windshield, he could see the hull of a Galran frigate way too close for comfort.</p>
<p>“Holy cow…” he blurted, limping to Coran and kneeling by his side. The advisor had a bruised gash on his head that was bleeding profusely; he probably hit the console from whatever knocked into them, which was why he was unconscious.</p>
<p>“Coran!” Lance called, shaking his shoulder. “Wake up, we’re in trouble here!”</p>
<p>Much to his relief the altean slowly opened his eyes, frowning and trying to touch his own forehead. Lance gently stopped him, shaking his head. “Don’t, you’re bleeding.”</p>
<p>“Number Three…?” the altean mumbled, starting to connect where he was and what was happening. “What are you doing on the Castleship?” he asked.</p>
<p>Lance helped him on his feet, pressing his gloved hand to Coran’s forehead to stop the bleeding. He made sure the altean could stand on his own before talking again. “It’s a long story. By the way, what happened? Was it the Galras?”</p>
<p>“No. It was a significant energy wave, probably caused by the explosion of a nova a few light years from here. Like and EMP wave. It disabled our systems, probably the Galra’s too.”</p>
<p>Lance swallowed hard. “Are the Lions…?” he asked. A futile question. He already knew the answer.</p>
<p>“It’s a possibility,” Coran confirmed, taking off his jacket to dab at his wound and looking at the lifeless terminals. “We should reach the infirmary,” he said then.</p>
<p>“<em>Dios,</em> Shiro!” said Lance. He hadn’t thought of it. Their former leader, freshly recovered from outer space, was spending a good ten hours inside a healing pod. It was one of the reason Keith had been so restless the last couple of days.</p>
<p>Coran nodded, closing is eyes when the move caused a pang of pain. “We should check the pods’ system. There’s still air and gravity, so life support is still ongoing, but I’m worried about defence and navigation,” he said.</p>
<p>Lance nodded and stayed by the altean side all the way to the infirmary. Coran took with him a couple of portable devices and seemed to walk pretty well despite the head injury; probably because he was altean, considered Lance, both he and the Princess seemed pretty tough. On the other hand, Lance’s side was on fire and the hip hurt more and more step after step.</p>
<p>They reached the infirmary after a few minutes and Lance opened the door for Coran, anxiety sewn in every fibre of his soul. They just found Shiro after believing him dead, he couldn’t even think about the possibility of losing him again because he hadn’t thought of checking the infirmary first.</p>
<p>On the inside, the room didn’t differ from the others; lights out, only emergency illumination. Lance’s eyes went right away on the pod Shiro was in and even if it seemed intact, and its guest serenely asleep, the light inside was dim and greyish.</p>
<p>“Coran…?”</p>
<p>“One thing at a time lad,” said the altean, walking towards the main terminals and connecting one of the devices he had taken from the bridge. A few ticks later the lights were on, the monitors too, but the pod remained inactive.</p>
<p>Coran tinkered with the controls for a few minutes more before taking a deep breath and sitting on one of the medical beds. Lance left his place in front of the pod, grabbing some gauze, disinfectant and a miraculous jelly-like thing alteans used instead of stiches. He knew something about first-aid care from the Garrison, so he proceeded to tend to Coran’s wound the best way he could.</p>
<p>“We are running out of energy. The shock wave disabled the main systems and the secondary ones are barely enough to maintain life support and artificial gravity. This isn’t good.”</p>
<p>Lance nodded, spreading a bit of jelly medicine on the cut. “And Shiro?” asked.</p>
<p>“If the medical wing is left without sufficient energy, all the pods automatically enter cryostasis until they can be reactivated. Number One is fine,” he explained, searching Lance’s eyes. “How are you, Number Three?” he asked, concern clear in his voice.</p>
<p>Lance let out a relieved breath. He shrugged while bandaging Coran’s head. “I had a close encounter with a wall. My side hurts a bit,” he minimized. His side had actually been pretty loud in reminding him that moving around too much was a no-no.</p>
<p>“Let’s see about that,” said the altean, letting Lance take his place on the bed and reaching for a scanner. “You didn’t tell me what you are doing here,” he said then.</p>
<p>Lance pouted. “Keith took Red. I’m stuck.”</p>
<p>Coran’s eyebrows almost reached his hairline. “Why would he do that?” he asked, stunned.</p>
<p>Lance shrugged again. Keith had been unstable in the last few weeks, Shiro’s absence and his new role of leader heavy in his mind, but Lance had hoped that his brother’s return was enough to give him some stability. Which was why he decided to open up to him, confiding his fears. He and Keith were closer lately, often seeking in each other the comfort they needed. Lance thought it was the right time. Apparently, he was wrong.</p>
<p>“We… argued, sort of,” he explained. “When Allura gave the order to go Keith came to Red’s hangar, took her and left.”</p>
<p>He avoided telling the whole story. The way in which Keith had pushed him away, physically and emotionally, saying he didn’t want to be the leader if that meant making Lance insecure. Shiro could pilot Black. How Red didn’t stop Keith from entering, reacting instead to his presence, letting him pilot even if Lance was her Paladin now. The way they both disappeared between the stars leaving him alone and useless without a Lion to pilot.</p>
<p>Useless. The seventh wheel.</p>
<p>“After that I was hurled away and woke up kissing a wall on the other side of the hangar.”</p>
<p>Coran said nothing, at first, probably reading on Lance’s face everything he wasn’t saying. He was perceptive. He placed down the scanner and touched his side and hip with firm hands.</p>
<p>“Two of your ribs are cracked and your hip took quite a hit. I need to do bind up your torso until we can put you into a pod and I wager a bit of painkiller will do wonders for the pain.”</p>
<p>Lance didn’t complain. He took off his armour and lowered the undersuit, letting Coran bind his abdomen with a thick gauze. The bandage was itchy and a bit too tight for his liking, but he decided to deal with it. Maybe the usual Lance would have joked on how slim that thing made him look, but he felt so dejected that the joke died on his lips.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, he will come around,” said Coran, helping him wear at least the undersuit – the binding was so tight that the chest and tights plates were too uncomfortable to wear.</p>
<p>Lance decided to ignore the comment, feeling guilty. The problem was himself, not Keith. “What do we do now?” asked instead.</p>
<p>Coran played absentmindedly with his moustaches, thinking. “We must find enough energy to reactivate at least a part of the main systems. If we had the external sensors, we could figure out where the Lions are and go get them. In the event that their systems are down too, we have six vargas top to take them back.”</p>
<p>The Lions’ emergency system sealed the cockpit in case of a sudden blackout, keeping the Paladins in the safest and most defendable place on-board. However, without a functioning life support, the air in the cockpit could keep a Paladin alive for a maximum time of six hours. Usually the Lions always reactivated way before the time limit, but it was better not to take pointless risks.</p>
<p>“We have to consider the Galra ship parked outside,” said Lance. “Even if they are inoperative like us I still don’t trust them to stay still and wait for things to fix themselves.”</p>
<p>“Good point,” said Coran.</p>
<p>“If things go south we only have Black,” added Lance, “and the only available one able to pilot him is Shiro.”</p>
<p>“We better get to work then,” said Coran, turning swiftly towards one of the monitors. He had to lean on a bed because of a sudden dizzy spell.</p>
<p>Lance would regret the words he was about to say. “You’re not going anywhere with your head split up like that, you might have a concussion. I’ll go.”</p>
<p>“Numer Three, with no offense, but you are not a mechanic. And all the programs are written in altean.”</p>
<p>“Then you must figure out a way to help me remotely, because if you pass out down there I’m not sure I’ll be able to find you in time. And if you leave me here and something happens to Shiro’s pod I am the last person on this plane on existence who knows what to do.”</p>
<p>Coran wanted to strongly reply, Lance could tell by the way his nose wrinkled, but after a few ticks he changed his mind and sighed. “You’re not wrong,” he admitted. He walked to the terminals and took the second portable device he took from the bridge. He tapped on it, setting the parameters he needed, and then gave it to Lance.</p>
<p>“It is like a master key. It allows me to operate on the selected systems from here. The only thing you have to do is go to the terminals I need and connect it.”</p>
<p>A delivery boy. Yeah, that he could do. “Where do I go?” asked then, grabbing his beyard. He didn’t put on the pieces of the armour he took off, opting for freedom of movement, and the helmet wasn’t actually needed on the Castle.</p>
<p>“Engine room,” said Coran. “When in need to find what’s wrong, one must start from the heart.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The alarm blaring was nerve-racking. Coran couldn’t switch it off from the infirmary so it kept resounding everywhere non-stop since they were hit.</p>
<p>One hour gone, five to go.</p>
<p>The descent toward the engine room was nothing more than a long, solitary walk through the Castle. Lance was still limping but the tight bandage was helping, so he should reach engineering in a reasonable time. All the time he tried not to think about Keith, at the situation they were in and at the hurtful words they exchanged just a few hours before.</p>
<p>
  <em>“I did the math. There is a paladin too many. So maybe the best thing I can do for the team is step aside.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“You are not the problem. I am. You need Shiro. I’m not a good enough leader.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Keith, this is not –”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Do me a favour Lance, leave the math to Pidge and me alone.”</em>
</p>
<p>“Stupid idiot,” mumbled Lance wile opening the doors to the engine room, down in the bowels of the Castleship.</p>
<p>Like everywhere in the Castle, everything was off. Even the reactor, which channelled the Balmera crystal’s energy to the engines, was inactive, casting a deep darkness all around. Lance turned on his flashlight and walked along the metal gangway to the main terminal, suspended high above the ground, namely the bottom of the spherical room. In some way he preferred Earth-built ships, in which the reactor room was completely isolated and not altogether with the entire engineering department. How can you put a terminal you need <em>so close</em> to a big ball of plasma-like energy, which could burn you to a crisp in seconds? What was Coran’s grandpa even thinking when he built the damn thing?</p>
<p>“Coran, I’m here,” he said, touching the earpiece to open communications.</p>
<p>“Well done lad! Connect the tablet, I’m ready.” Came from the other side.</p>
<p>Lance kneeled in front of the console and opened the panel below, taking out a cable and connecting it to the tablet as Coran showed him before. The screen was offline but the device lit up right away, showing a bunch of lines in altean.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t seem a good thing,” said Lance, looking at a couple of red flashing letters.</p>
<p>He could hear Coran mumbling something in his ear. “So, Number Three, it would appear that the shock wave caused more damage than we expected. I can see a lot of cascading errors… it could take us days to fix everything without Number Two and Number Five.”</p>
<p>“Well, we can’t exactly wait for Hunk and Pidge to get back from the school trip,” said Lance.</p>
<p>“Right. The other option is to do a complete restart,” said then Coran. “With a full reset the systems will come back on their original start-up mode, at that point we can see which ones are safe to reboot.”</p>
<p>“So… shutting down the entire Castle?” asked Lance. “Wouldn’t that affect air and gravity too? And Shiro?”</p>
<p>“Number One will be safe. For all the rest… I heartily recommend you hold onto something and use your portable breather.”</p>
<p>Lance rolled his eyes, taking the small portable breather from his belt and putting it on his nose and mouth. He then proceeded to hold onto the railing with one hand and picking up the tablet with the other one.</p>
<p>“Ready as I can be.”</p>
<p>“Hold on to your butt!” said Coran, way too cheerful given the situation.</p>
<p>Suddenly everything shut down. The emergency lights went off and the siren stopped, leaving the Castle in a scary deep quietness. Even the never-ending background hum ceased, leaving behind the same silence one could find in deep space. Then gravity stopped working and he started to float, an unpleasant sensation he still wasn’t used to.</p>
<p>After a few moments, the terminal’s screen went on and a single altean line appeared in the right corner.</p>
<p>“What does it mean?” he asked to Coran.</p>
<p>“That the system is ready to go. It worked!”</p>
<p>Lance frowned. “Ready to go? Haven’t you already reactivated it?”</p>
<p>“I restarted it. All the different subsystems have to be rebooted from the main terminal on the command bridge, but the main system is on and ready.”</p>
<p>“So we have to, what… turn on the lights? Restart what we need?”</p>
<p>“Exactly!” said Coran with a happy voice.</p>
<p>Lance did not share the same happiness. Roaming around the Castle when you could walk was a one thing, but without breathable air, lights and gravity it was a horse of a different colour. Not to mention that the climb back up to the command bridge involved the use of a convenient lift, which wasn’t working without power. The only way left was the ladder in the maintenance well: a very long tube that run along the lift shaft used for, well, maintenance. As if he didn’t already dislike narrow and dark places.</p>
<p>“On my way,” he said, turning off communications. He looked toward the door he passed on the way in, now all the way back, and grunted. “Don’t you wear your jetpack Lance, it’s just a walk around the Castle, you won’t suddenly find yourself in zero-gravity!” he humoured himself, using the railing to get to the exit.</p>
<p>The way back to the command bridge ended up being more challenging than the descent to the engine room. The flashlight was like a narrow corridor in the total darkness and his lack of coordination in zero-G didn’t exactly help his cause.</p>
<p>“Go to the Galaxy Garrison, they said,” he complained, going up the maintenance well at moderate speed – the only way gravity absence was actually helping him. “You should be a fighter pilot, space is awesome! True, but the Galaxy Garrison should put in their fliers that half of the universe has been at war for ten thousand years and the other half is doing its best to hide from the above-mentioned waAH!” he didn’t see the end of the well and hit the hatch with his shoulder. He sighed, searching blindly for the handle. “I should have listened to my <em>abuela</em> and become a farmer.”</p>
<p>With a couple of risky manoeuvres, he managed to get out of the well and into the corridor. He pushed himself to the doors, still open from before, and entered the command bridge. With a well-calculated leap he reached the main console and connected his portable device.</p>
<p>“The eagle is in the nest,” he joked on the comms, pretending he was in one of those everlasting American action movies, floating a few inches above the floor. Once all that shit was over, he deserved a hot shower and at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.</p>
<p>“Well done my boy,” said Coran. “In a few ticks primary systems will go on-line and we can think about recovering Allura and the Paladins.”</p>
<p>Another set of altean lines appeared on the tablet, together with a loading bar that quickly filled. Once done, the typical hum of the Castle came back to life and the Balmera crystal behind Lance started to shine.</p>
<p>“Lights,” said Coran on the radio, and all light in the room switched on.</p>
<p>“Oxygen,” he said again and Lance finally removed the portable breather, taking a deep breath.</p>
<p>“Gra-vi-ty!” he sung and Lance promptly slammed his ass on the ground, his side exploding in a storm of painful stabs. He held back a course out of sheer stubbornness.</p>
<p>“All systems are rebooting. Nice work Number Three.”</p>
<p>“My pleasure,” grumbled Lance ironically, standing up. “How’s the situation outside?”</p>
<p>Only silence answered him.</p>
<p>“Coran?”</p>
<p>“I’ll show you,” answered the altean. Coran sent him a schematization of what the external sensor were picking up: the Galra ship was indeed a few miles away, apparently motionless, and a little further on four coloured dots marked the position of the four Lions. All around them where countless purple dots, Galra fighters the Lions where battling before that were stopped by the energy wave. The most worrisome thing, however, were four cables connecting the Lions to the enemy ship.</p>
<p>“What are those things?” asked Lance.</p>
<p>“Energy absorbers, I suppose. I think they are trying to use the residual power of the Lions to restart the ship as fast as possible. They could also force their way into the cockpits and take the Lions, since they can’t use the tractor beam without power.”</p>
<p>“<em>No Bueno,</em>” Lance mumbled. “Does it have power though? The mother ship.”</p>
<p>“Not right now, but it could at any moment.”</p>
<p>Lance stopped talking, focusing on the little red dot that marked Keith’s position. Losing even one of the Lions could be a disaster but losing four was unthinkable.</p>
<p>“Coran, we need Shiro.”</p>
<p>“The pod shows three vargas left.”</p>
<p>“We don’t have three vargas.”</p>
<p>The altean waited a few moments before replying. “I can stop the healing process but it could be dangerous for Shiro… and I need some time.”</p>
<p>“We don’t have a choice,” said Lance bitterly. Not with him as the last man standing.</p>
<p>Suddenly an alarm started from the main console, highlighting some red dots over a map of the Castle.</p>
<p>“Coran?”</p>
<p>“Intruders!” the altean exclaimed. “Galra, two teams of three.”</p>
<p>“Where?” asked Lance, taking out his beyard.</p>
<p>“Balck’s hangar and… the command bridge! They’re going to enter!”</p>
<p>Lance hid behind the nearest console, trying to make as little noise as possible. In less than a minute the doors blew open and three Galra soldiers came into the room armed to the teeth. Lance watched them out of the corner of his eye, realizing there wasn’t any type of sentinel with them. They were Galra in flesh and blood.</p>
<p>He listened to them talking and walking around, considering what to do. Fleeing wasn’t an option; he was the only one in the Castle that could fight since Shiro was still in a pod, and even if Coran was more than able to defend himself he didn’t want the advisor near any source of danger. He was the only one beside Allura that could pilot the Castle and literally the only medical-trained aboard.</p>
<p>He could still fight… or try to, at least. If by sheer miracle he managed to knock out the three on the bridge, then he would have to deal with the three in Black’s hangar.</p>
<p>He took a deep breath. One problem at a time.</p>
<p>“Lance, can you hear me?” said Coran in his ear. Lance couldn’t answer though. “I can see your position. The tablet is still connected; I can put the ship into emergency once again. It would leave air and gravity as they are but turn off the lights. It could be useful.”</p>
<p>Lance nodded even if Coran couldn’t see him doing it. He changed his beyard into the sniper rifle and he took another calming breath, waiting for Coran to follow in his words. His heart was beating so hard he could have popped out of his chest.</p>
<p>He was going to die. He wasn’t a soldier. He wasn’t Shiro, or Keith, wasn’t smart like Pidge, didn’t have Hunk’s mechanical knowledge or Allura’s diplomatic ability. He was nothing. Red confirmed it in the end, flying with Keith even when Lance should have been her Paladin. He was a placeholder.</p>
<p>He was expendable.</p>
<p>Lance swallowed down his panic when the lights went out, bathing the bridge in flashes of red. The siren started its scream again. The soldiers seemed frantic, agitated, so Lance took advantage of their confusion: he leant out and aimed for the farthest soldier, which fell with a single, precise, shot.</p>
<p>Sadly, the noise revealed his position and he took cover just in time before purple laser shots rain on him like arrows and destroyed the terminal. Lance turned his beyard into the blaser form and quickly held it up when he heard the steps of one of the Galra coming from the left, trying to flank him. He shot a rapid series of gunshot as soon as he appeared, hitting him fully in the chest. The soldier fell heavily to the ground.</p>
<p>The last remaining Galra screamed. “Come out, son of a bitch!” he yelled, throwing a grenade. Lance leapt to the opposite direction, cutting through a cloud of laser shots in order to escape the explosion. One of those shots hit his tight, pain flaring up, but he kept running. He managed to hide behind the lift for Blue’s hangar and evade the explosion, but he ended up cornered without a way out.</p>
<p>“You can have another one!” screamed the Galra but suddenly the light went on again, blinding him, and Lance acted out of sheer instinct: leaning out he aimed at the hand with the grenade, hitting the soldier before he could throw it. The bomb fell at his feet and detonated before he could run away.</p>
<p>Lance paused for a few seconds before moving, waiting for his ears to stop ringing, listening to the silence. Only then he came out of his hiding place, watching the scene in front of him.</p>
<p>He just killed three people. He never killed anyone directly before, only sentries, and even if he knew perfectly well that their missions had surely caused some collateral fatalities, he never witnessed it first-hand. He had reacted purely on instinct and the fear of dying had done the rest.</p>
<p>Lance resisted to the impulse to vomit. He had to be strong. That shitstorm was still far from ending.</p>
<p>“Coran,” he called, anticipating the voice of the altean in his ear but no one answered. “Coran, do you copy?” he tried again.</p>
<p>He took a step towards the main console but pain flared up on his leg, a bitter remember that he was hurt. “<em>Dios!</em> Holy crap!” he yelled, looking down. He avoided touching the long, cauterized cut on his right tight. Without his armour on the laser had cut through skin like butter.</p>
<p>He gritted his teeth, ignoring pulsating pain and burnt up skin, reaching the terminal. The console was completely ravaged and the tablet destroyed by the first explosion: the biggest piece he was able to find was as big as a blueberry.</p>
<p>“Fuck,” he whispered. Without the portable device they couldn’t communicate and Coran had limited control upon the Castleship. Lights where on, yes, but the siren was still ringing, meaning the emergency protocol for intruders was still active. Meaning that all doors where sealed shut, manual mechanisms bypassed by the system and useless, especially the hangars doors.</p>
<p>“Think, Lance. Think,” he said, voice low, looking around searching of <em>something</em>. “What would Keith do?”</p>
<p>“Keith probably wouldn’t have been trapped like an idiot,” he said then. There was a voice in his mind, whispering how useless he was, how undeserving of the title of Paladin he was. A voice that sounded sometimes like Shiro, sometimes like Allura. He ignored it. Instead, he breathed deep and steady, searching for a bit of quiet inside and out. What was that thing that Keith kept saying?</p>
<p>Patience yields focus. “Focus, Lance,” he said to himself, stopping his wandering gaze on the Black Paladin seat and the access tunnel he knew was underneath. What would Keith do? “Keith would bash his way through like a man possessed.” Black’s hangar wasn’t at the opposite side of the Castle like the other Lions’ were, it didn’t need an elevator and a long ride to get to. Black’s hangar was directly underneath the command bridge.</p>
<p>He limped towards the two dead soldiers, searching their uniforms. He found a grenade on one of them, exactly what he had hoped to find. Once understood how it worked he turned around, walking back towards the seat and the hatch below.</p>
<p>“Sorry Coran, but I don’t have time to come up with another plan,” he apologized, shooting with his beyard at the base of the chair and wedging the grenade in the dent he just created.</p>
<p>The explosion didn’t completely destroy the thing – the Castleship was made of solid craftsmanship and more solid alien metal – but it was powerful enough to unhinge it, opening the way to the tunnel beneath.</p>
<p>Lance looked at it for a while, losing sight in the darkness. He couldn’t see the end of it but considering how high where the hangars, it wasn’t going to be a soft landing. Not to count that the passage was only a little larger than the pilot seat, so he couldn’t roll to soften the impact. He had to land on his feet.</p>
<p>That was a terrible idea. But he had no choice. “Make it or brake it,” he said, crossing his arms on his chest as if he had to jump into the ocean from a cliff. He jumped into the void instead.</p>
<p>The impact with the bottom was ruinous. Without seeing how deep it was he couldn’t bend in time to try and brake the fall, and his right ankle paid for it with a loud ‘crack’.</p>
<p>Lance had to press his hands on his own mouth not to scream in agony. For the longest moment, all he could see were little white and black dots. He seated down the best way he could in the narrow space, overwhelmed by atrocious pain.</p>
<p>He couldn’t do it. He wasn’t good enough.</p>
<p>
  <em>Paladin.</em>
</p>
<p>A voice in his mind, imperative and cold like the light of a faraway star. It wasn’t Blue gentle nudge, or Red’s sharp laugh. It wasn’t the cooling sensation of a tall waterfall or the intense heat of a roaring fire. Rather, the silent vastness of infinite space.</p>
<p>
  <em>On your feet, Paladin.</em>
</p>
<p>Lance took a ragged breath, tears flowing freely on his cheeks. “I can’t,” he cried. “I can’t on my own.”</p>
<p>
  <em>You are not alone.</em>
</p>
<p>A mix of dreams and pictures followed one another in his mind: Pidge’s conspiring laugh, Hunk’s gentle smile, Allura’s melodic voice the only time he caught her singing an old altean lullaby. Coran’s habit to pinch his moustaches while talking. Shiro’s comforting presence.</p>
<p>Keith’s hands when Lance had took off his gloves. His callous and coarse palms, due to the incessant training. The unexpected sweetness in which he had smiled, buried under that rough surface. The unforgettable memory of their fingers intertwining.</p>
<p>
  <em>You are their only hope. Come to me.</em>
</p>
<p>Lance rubbed his eyes dry, taking a deep, calming breath. He could do it. He <em>had</em> to do it.</p>
<p>He didn’t land inside the hangar. He had hit the hatch on the other side instead, still closed. Luckily, it wasn’t completely dark; a little bit of light filtered through a passageway above him, a small rectangular hole that was probably one end of a ventilation conduit. If he listened carefully, he could hear voices reverberating from inside. Judging by his location, it had to be the air duct passing directly above Black’s hangar. And luckily for him he was slim enough to crawl inside.</p>
<p>He took off the rest of his armour to be as quiet as possible. He removed his boots as well, holding his breath when he slipped the right one over his hurt ankle. It didn’t seem bent in a wrong way but it already had a bluish colour. Walking on it would be pure agony.</p>
<p><em>“¡Vamos, Lance!</em>” he whispered to himself, standing up on his good leg. He could reach the opening with his hands and with difficulty he lifted himself inside the air vent, crawling on his belly to the first grating.</p>
<p>He had a good line of vision on the hangar from there. Black was a few feet ahead, his particle barrier up, and three Galra soldiers were trying every possible way to take it down. Clearly, the Lions hangar had some type of shielding if the cosmic wave hand’t disabled Black.</p>
<p>He didn’t have enough room to form the sniper rifle but he had a good vantage point and a clean firing line. His beyard took the blaster form and Lance took aim through the metal grill.</p>
<p>The first two shots scored a direct hit, hitting two of the three Galras in their back. The third dodged, pointing his weapon to the ceiling and firing blindly in his generic direction. Lance closed his eyes and curled on himself, praying not to die trapped in a pipe.</p>
<p>Luckily, it wasn’t his time yet. With a mighty roar Black lowered his barrier and hurled the Galra towards the far wall. The alien crumpled to the ground like a bag of potatoes and stopped moving.</p>
<p>Lance let out a trembling breath. From beneath him the Lion lifted his muzzle, coming a short way from the grating. Lance hit the grill with the rifle’s stock until it gave, then landed on the Lion nose. Black lowered him on the ground with ease and Lance climbed down until he was standing on solid ground.</p>
<p>Lance took a moment to think, leaning on Black’s head so as not putting the injured foot on the ground. Forget the hot bath, after all that mess he deserved a month of paid vacation and 48 hours of blessed sleep.</p>
<p>He watched the lifeless Galras at his feet, the ones he had shot (and killed), his mind numb. Then watched the exit door. “I need to find a way to the infirmary. If we could wake Shiro up…”</p>
<p>
  <em>No.</em>
</p>
<p>Black’s voice ringed in his mind one more time. “No?” repeated Lance, stunned.</p>
<p>Black opened his giant mouth, letting the ramp down. It meant only one thing.</p>
<p>Lance swallowed a mixture of saliva and panic. It was not right. He had already tried to pilot Black and the Lion didn’t accept him, choosing Keith instead. And Jeez, how much had it <em>burned </em>being second to Keith one more time, scorching deep into his insecurities and all the doubts still tormenting him.</p>
<p>“I am not your Paladin,” he said.</p>
<p>Black let him see the same images as before. Laughs, smiles, voices. <em>His</em> hands.</p>
<p>Their only hope.</p>
<p>“Just this time,” Lance surrendered, strengthening up and painfully walking up the ramp to the cockpit. He sat on the pilot chair, watching anxiously the console in front of him, still unpowered. He reached the handles with trembling hands, grabbing them lightly.</p>
<p>The console lit up, the front screens turned on showing him the hangar’s walls and Black raised up, ready to take off.</p>
<p>“I don’t know how long I can last,” said Lance, weary from the pain.</p>
<p><em>You are not alone</em>, said Black again.</p>
<p>Lance tightened his grip on the handles, his eyes determined. “Let’s go get them.”</p>
<p>He blew up the hangar doors, exiting into space. Piloting Black was different from Blue’s delicate speed or Red’s rapid manoeuvers. His size didn’t make him a quick Lion but at the same time flying him made Lance feel weightless, as if all that mass had the weight of a feather.</p>
<p>As soon as he was outside, he saw the situation with his own eyes. The Galra ship, still and powerless, the many Galra fighters floating in the void, the four Lions tethered to the ship with black cables. Coran had said that maybe those cables were the reason why the Lions hadn’t powered up yet and, with his new point of view, Lance started to think he was right. There were a couple of Galra soldiers with jetpacks near every Lion and they were trying to breach the hulls with everything they had.</p>
<p>Three hours had passed since the nova exploded. The Galra would take the Lions in far less than the three their Paladins had left.</p>
<p>“Ok, cables first,” said Lance. He pushed the handles and commanded Black into action, speeding up, and effortlessly cut all four with the jaw-blade. The Garla still outside, caught off guards, abandoned their efforts; some of them started to shot at him while others withdrew to the ship.</p>
<p>Lance was thinking about what to do next when his communication system came back to life.</p>
<p>“Lance!”</p>
<p>“Shiro!” said the Paladin, searching the other’s face on the console. Instead of the video feed there was a ‘sound only’ sign.</p>
<p>“Coran managed to reboot part of the systems,” said Shiro. “Castle’s defences should be active in a few ticks but the sensors show that the Garla ship is regaining power.</p>
<p>“<em>Mierda</em>,” cursed Lance. “What do I do?”</p>
<p>“Keep them busy, Coran and I will find a way to bring the Lions back,” said Shiro.</p>
<p>It was a desperate plan, it coulnd’t possibly work. Even Shiro knew that. The Galras were too many and they were three. Furthermore, there was the wrong Paladin on the wrong Lion. They had no chance.</p>
<p>He had to think out of the box.</p>
<p>With a swipe of his hands he switched to the thermal visual. The Galra ship showed a warmer point, probably its reactor core, and a colder one, which matched a steadily rising energy peak. If there was a thing he figured out during his first days in space, it was that Galras and Alteans powered their ships in the same way.</p>
<p>“You know, my older brother restored an old car once, a petrol-fuelled heap of metal. He always said the same thing: doesn’t matter how powerful an engine is, it doesn’t work without fuel.”</p>
<p>“The purple crystal?” asked Shiro, always sharp.</p>
<p>“Yes. I can see it in thermal.”</p>
<p>“It’s impossible to strike from the outside.”</p>
<p>“I don’t intend to strike from the outside,” said Lance. He closed his eyes, focusing on the rough, new bond he felt with Black, pulsing like a raw nerve in the back of his mind. “I know you can phase through walls. It’s time to do it again.”</p>
<p>“Lance, no!” exclaimed Shiro.</p>
<p>
  <em>It is dangerous. You will break.</em>
</p>
<p>Lance smiled bitterly. “Good thing I am the expendable one.”</p>
<p>Shiro was shouting something at the comms but Lance had stopped listening. If that was his final performance, if he had to die saving his space family, then it was fine. Better than waiting for a more suitable Paladin to come and watch the others save the universe from the sidelines, unable to help.</p>
<p>
  <em>None of you is expendable.</em>
</p>
<p>“Hey, I’m their only hope. You said it.”</p>
<p>Black didn’t answer. After a while his energy expanded, Lance could feel it all around like electricity, and the Lion spread his wings. The feeling of weighting nothing at all increased tenfold and the very air around him smelt of ozone (almost like fresh-cut hay, his mind provided, or like rain). Shiro’s voice was lost in his concentration for the singular point in space he wanted so badly to reach: the middle of the Galra ship.</p>
<p>When Black’s energy finally peaked, Lance pushed the controls and set off.</p>
<p>It felt like tearing apart. In the length of a breath he could feel his cells separate one by one, his consciousness weaver, his mind becoming part of the cosmos. Black became incorporeal and phased, passing through the ship like a winged ghost.</p>
<p>Lance closed his eyes, or at least he thought to do it; his own life energy quickly depleted, fed to Black and his power. When he opened them, he was in a completely different place. An endless sea of silence and a boundless starry sky.</p>
<p>He couldn’t think. His thoughts were scattered all around like glass, like feathers in the wind, like cosmic dust. He wanted to give in to the void, he wanted to fight, to keep his eyes open and his mind sharp, he didn’t know what he really wanted. A figure appeared in front of him, giving him a fixed point in time and space, a landmark to remember himself.</p>
<p>A figure he knew too well.</p>
<p><em>“Shiro?”</em> he said, or maybe he thought to say.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Lance… help. Help me.”</em>
</p>
<p>He was about to answer him, or at least he wanted to – reaching out, perhaps – but before he could something grabbed him and yanked him violently. Lance fell, and fell, and when he finally stopped falling, he opened his eyes on Black’s cockpit, the Lion standing proud on the other side of the Galra ship with the purple crystal in his mouth.</p>
<p>Lance was confused. His mind was weird, uncoordinated. He couldn’t put together the pieces of what had just happened but of one thing he was sure: he made it. He smiled before feeling some wetness under his nose, tasting iron on his tongue. The last thing he saw before passing out were a few, bloody droplets falling on his tights, then nothing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Keith dashed out of Red’s cockpit, ignoring the stiffness and the near-hypothermia.</p>
<p>When Red finally had regained power he had seen a purple lightning flash through the Galra ship and Black come out on the other end with their power crystal. From that point on the battle had been far too easy with all the Lions coming back online, the Galra forces completely powerless, but the Black Lion hadn’t moved since, and Keith was worried sick about Shiro.</p>
<p>Hunk had helped him towing Black inside Red’s hangar. His friend was also walking out of Yellow and they exchanged a look. Probably Hunk had reached the same conclusion: only Shiro could pilot Black but the last time they saw him he was in a healing pod, too fucking weak to do the things Keith saw him do out there. Piloting Black asked more energy to a Paladin than the other Lions; he knew, felt it on his own skin.</p>
<p>He didn’t want to lose him again.</p>
<p>They were about to reach the Lion, lying motionless on its side, when the door opened and Shiro run in, out of breath and with the medical suit still on.</p>
<p>Keith abruptly stopped. “Shiro? What the…?” he said, watching him go into Black.</p>
<p>If Shiro was there then who…?</p>
<p>This time Hunk understood before he did. His gentle eyes filled with tears while Pidge and Allura joined them, running in. Keith’s heart stopped when Shiro came out of the Lion with Lance in his arms.</p>
<p>“No…” Keith whispered, unaware of going near them, kneeling down beside Lance while Shiro eased down the boy. He marginally felt the others surround them but he didn’t care, he had eyes only for Lance.</p>
<p>“Princess, we should go away from here,” said Shiro. Allura nodded and sprinted towards the command bridge.</p>
<p>“What happened?” Keith heard Pidge asking.</p>
<p>He watched Lance’s body carefully. Thin blood trails stained the perfect skin under his nose and to the side of his mouth, all the way down to his chin. He had a laser wound on his tight and a bruised, swollen foot. He wasn’t wearing his armour, or his helmet, and beneath the thin undersuit he could see a bandage wrapped around his torso.</p>
<p>Keith’s breath was stuck in his throat. He was in pieces. His Lance was in pieces.</p>
<p>“I don’t know the details,” Shiro started, “but two Galra patrols had managed to get in. Lance fought them.”</p>
<p>“He piloted Black…” whined Hunk. “But… how? Isn’t Keith his new Paladin?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know Hunk,” said Shiro, putting a hand on Keith shoulder. He coulnd’t stop staring at Lance, praying for his eyes to open. “We must take Lance to the infirmary.”</p>
<p>Keith swallowed dry, too much scared to touch Lance’s cheek as he craved to, and simply nodded. Shiro lifted him up and walked swiftly towards the infirmary.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lance’s face was peaceful inside the pod, lulled in a healing sleep. Keith had already decided he wasn’t going to leave the infirmary, even before Shiro tried to convince him to shower and have something to eat. He hadn’t answered any of the questions the others had asked, his eyes focused on Lance, so in the end they had stopped talking to him.</p>
<p>He huddled up in the blanket Coran had put on his shoulders. The Castleship’s system weren’t fully operative yet, the altean had explained, and for the healing pods to work the had to give up the heating. Keith had nodded and Coran had smiled sympathetically, leaving him alone.</p>
<p>What Lance had done was in equal part incredible and extremely dangerous. Coran had filled them in once the Red Palind had been placed in the pod, telling the story of how Lance had to fight six Galra soldiers alone in order to keep Coran, Shiro and Black safe. In order to come get them before the time was out or the Galras managed to breach the hull and capture all of them.</p>
<p>Lance was already wounded when he entered Black, Coran had said. Piloting the Lion weakened him even more, such that his quintessence was still dangerously low. Only time could tell if he would fully recover.</p>
<p>Keith rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted but he refused to sleep. When Lance got out of the pod he wanted to be there. He owned him an apology and he had a physical need to have him close, hear him breathe, make sure he wasn’t gone.</p>
<p>He had just found Shiro; he refused to lose Lance.</p>
<p>The door of the infirmary opened and his brother in all but blood walked in, sitting down on the floor next to him. He gave him a plate with the closest thing to a sandwich he had seen since leaving Earth.</p>
<p>“Hunk is stress-cooking,” he said, watching Lance. “Pidge is helping Allura and Coran with the ship’s mainframe. I tried to get her to sleep a few hours but it didn’t work.”</p>
<p>“Only Lance can do that,” said Keith, the first thing he voiced since landing.</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>They stayed silent for a few minutes before the man spoke again. “Would you like to explain what happened?”</p>
<p>Keith played with his sandwich but didn’t eat it. Eventually he would have to explain things, he might as well do it now. “I was angry,” he started. “We had a fight, sort of. He came up with this stupid idea about being useless, wanted to leave his place on the team to Allura, and I… lost it. When the alarm went off I took Red and left him behind.”</p>
<p>“Keith…”</p>
<p>“I know,” he said. “I wronged him and put everyone in danger. We couldn’t form Voltron. It’s just…” he stopped, unsure on how to explain his feeling.</p>
<p>“You don’t feel ready to be the leader, despite being chosen. Am I right?” asked Shiro.</p>
<p>Keith nodded.</p>
<p>“Keith, when I asked you to take my place if something happened to me I was sure you would be capable to do it. I still am. Like I was sure the others would be right by your side, to guide you, especially Lance.”</p>
<p>The boy looked at him, surprised by his words.</p>
<p>Shiro’s eyebrow arched up. “I knew something was up between you two. I still don’t know exactly what, but it’s something different from the pointless rivalry you had before,” he said, looking at the sleeping Paladin. “I thought that Lance would have thrived as your second-in-hand, once settled. I didn’t know he doubted himself so much.”</p>
<p>“It took him a lot of courage to confide in me,” said then Keith. “And I answered with anger. I acted thoughtlessly and look what happened.”</p>
<p>“Yes, your decision was rash. However, in retrospect, we could say it was a fortune that Lance was here, protecting the Castle. If he hadn’t been here, we’d all be dead or prisoners now.”</p>
<p><em>Yeah, but at what cost,</em> thought Keith, but didn’t voiced it out loud. He chose to say something else instead, something he meant to say to him since before he was lost. “Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of a battle, I can’t hear the others’ voices. It’s like my brain closes them off and ignores them,” he confided. “Lance’s voice is the only one I can hear.”</p>
<p>Shiro sighed, now more aware of what was blooming between Keith and Lance. He put his arm around his little brother’s shoulders, hugging him. “Everything will be fine,” he said.</p>
<p>Keith could only hope.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>You are not alone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Lance, no!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It is dangerous. You will break.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Lance… help. Help me.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>You are their only hope.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Do me a favour; leave the math to Pidge and me alone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>So maybe the best thing I can do for the team is step aside.</em>
</p>
<p>Lance opened his eyes suddenly, holding his breath, his body stiff like a board. His mind was foggy and confused, still full of the voices he heard during his sleep, in a dream that was more like a memory. He tried to sit up, agitated, but a hand on his chest prevented him to.</p>
<p>Someone was trapping him, his brain provided. <em>Galra</em>, sounded in his mind like a fucking alarm bell. Did they caught him in the end? He started wriggling, using all his (scarce) strength to free himself and run away, as far as possible.</p>
<p>“Lance! Don’t worry, it’s all right. It’s all right,” said a gentle voice and when Lance finally connected that the hand keeping him still belonged to Hunk, he stopped squirming and started breathing slowly.</p>
<p>“Where…?” he said, looking around, but his throat was terribly dry so his voice didn’t work properly. He felt frozen and stiff, at the mercy of a kind of cold that seeped into the bones. He knew that uncomfortable sensation too well. He definitely spent some time in a crypod.</p>
<p>Hunk gave him a glass of water and Lance drank it like a man in a desert.</p>
<p>“In your room at the Castle,” Hunk replied when he calmed down. “You didn’t wake at the end of the healing cycle. Coran said it was normal since your quintessence was still quite low, but you scared the hell out of us anyway. Keith is unmanageable. Please never do that again.”</p>
<p>Lance laughed silently. With Hunk sustaining most of his weight he managed to sit up, watching his friend from head to toe. “Are you ok?” he asked then.</p>
<p>“I should be the one to ask you that,” said the other, his eyes clouded.</p>
<p>“Hey, I’m not the one who was trapped inside a tin can for four hours,” said Lance jokingly, but he could tell right away it didn’t have the desired effect.</p>
<p>“You had two cracked ribs, Coran said. Your ankle was basically shredded and you had a shot wound on your tight which, by the way, left a scar. Not to mention the sheer amount of life energy you used to pilot Black,” said Hunk, wringing his hands. “I noticed you weren’t there only when the fight started. What kind of best friend am I?”</p>
<p>Lance shook his head, laying a hand on his two. “Still the best kind,” he said. “Hunk, it isn’t your fault I was left behind. The issues between Keith and myself are not your fault. And it surely isn’t your fault if a nova decided to explode while we were passing by.”</p>
<p>Hunk caught Lance’s hand between his own. “How could you do all that by yourself?” he asked in a whisper.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” said Lance honestly. “Mostly adrenaline and a shit ton of luck, I suppose. I didn’t know what I was doing half of the time, and the other half I just tried to stay alive. In the end I was to one who killed six people.”</p>
<p>Hunk squeezed his hand. “They are not the first and they won’t be the last. We are…”</p>
<p>“…at war, yes. I know. Just… it was never so close,” he said. He didn’t know what to feel, honestly. He had the ghastly sensation that those deaths would torment him for a while but he couldn’t even remember their faces. In his memory, they were just lifeless puppets; the only peculiarity being the fact that he had been the one cutting their strings. He wondered if Shiro had felt the same when he fought in the arena.</p>
<p>“How did you pilot Black?” asked Hunk, distracting Lance from his thoughts. He gratefully accepted the distraction.</p>
<p>“He asked me to.”</p>
<p>Hunk frowned. “You mean he spoke to you?”</p>
<p>“Huh, yeah? Of course,” said Lance. “Doesn’t Yellow do that?”</p>
<p>Hunk shook his head. “Well, we communicate by feelings and images, he doesn’t <em>actually</em> talk,” he said.</p>
<p>Lance frowned. He was about to reply when the door suddenly opened and Keith appeared. He seemed to be short of breath and his hair were damp, occasionally dripping on his black t-shirt.</p>
<p>Hunk smiled and released his hand, standing from the small chair he had occupied until then. “I’ll go make you something to eat. Try to rest some more,” he said. Then, looking at Keith: “You too.”</p>
<p>Keith nodded quietly, waiting for Hunk to get out of the room before taking his place by the bed.</p>
<p>“Shiro kind of ordered me to take a shower,” he said as in justification, as if he was apologizing for not being there. Probably it was exactly what he was doing. “Then Pidge suggested you would appreciate a version of me that didn’t stink.”</p>
<p>Lance smiled but stayed silent. Keith seemed tired, dark circles adorned his eyes and his skin had a greyish hue. He wasn’t looking Lance in the eyes and glued word after word without any logic, just to talk about something. A habit he probably took from Lance himself.</p>
<p>Lance brushed Keith cheek with the back of his hand. “Did you sleep?” he asked, afraid of knowing the answer.</p>
<p>Keith sighed, finally looking at him directly, leaning his head on Lance’s hand. The little gestures like that made his heart melt. “I couldn’t sleep. I had to know you were fine.”</p>
<p>Lance smiled. “I’m fine.”</p>
<p>“You are now,” said Keith, taking Lance’s hand with his own. “I’m sorry,” he said then. “I acted unthinkingly and endangered both you and the team. I didn’t considered you could be blocked on the Castleship without Red, I just wanted to… I just…”</p>
<p>Lance understood. Really. Keith had told him he didn’t feel ready to be a leader, that he had no intention of taking Shiro’s place from the start, even if Shiro himself had asked him. He felt uncomfortable in the role they thrust upon him and Lance understood it better than anyone else on the ship did. However, something had entered his mind and never disappeared, a doubt that was eating him from inside.</p>
<p>“Piloting Red wasn’t like I remembered,” continued Keith, unaware of Lance’s internal turmoil. “It felt odd, like I was invading someone else’s personal space. She was upset too, twitchy. I was about to come back when the nova exploded.”</p>
<p>Lance couldn’t hold back anymore. “But she let you pilot her.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Red. I should be her Paladin and I was <em>right there</em>. But she let you pilot her,” he said, looking at him with sadness in his eyes. “Maybe I am right, Keith. I should…”</p>
<p>“No.” Keith interrupted. “No. Lance, you are not a substitute, or the seventh wheel. Hey, you protected the Castle by yourself, you piloted Black!”</p>
<p>Lance shook his head ruefully. “He let me do it. I was the only one available. If Shiro had been awake, he would have done it.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps he let you do it because he knew you could,” said Keith, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You may not have a unique talent, but without you this team would fall apart. Without the smiles you bring when no one else can smile. Without the stories of your family that remember us what we are fighting for. You are not useless, Lance. You are not.”</p>
<p>Lance did his best not to cry but Keith still caught a stray tear on his cheek. “What use do smiles have in a war?” whined Lance.</p>
<p>“They keep us human.”</p>
<p>“I just killed six people, Keith.”</p>
<p>“They would have killed you,” said the half-galran. “Protecting what you love doesn’t make you a monster.”</p>
<p>Lance smiled again, his eyes full of tears. “Since when did you get so wise?”</p>
<p>“Shiro’s fault,” Keith joked, “after years of lectures something must have stuck.”</p>
<p>Lance moved closer, laying his cheek on Keith’s shoulder and embracing him. Keith hesitated only a second before hugging him back, safe between his arms. His shyness for physical contacts was so endearing it always managed to get a smile out of Lance.</p>
<p>“You keep <em>me</em> human,” whispered Keith in a breath.</p>
<p>Lance hugged him tighter, leaving a butterfly kiss just under his ear. “Being half-Galra doesn’t make you a monster,” he whispered too.</p>
<p>Keith was the one to search for his lips. A kiss chaste and sweet, a light touch of lips, but Lance basked in that closeness, in Keith’s warmth and presence. He feared that the feeling blossoming in his chest for that boy would grow unreasonably and then explode, one day.</p>
<p>“You should rest,” said Lance, his forehead touching Keith’s. “You are exhausted.”</p>
<p>“Said the one who almost died,” said Keith.</p>
<p>“Hey, I am the funny one, go back to be the sulky leader.”</p>
<p>That make Keith lightly laugh and Lance felt better right away. Even if the half-galran was still somewhat sad, his tiny smile hard-earned, there was sweetness in his eyes and touch.</p>
<p>“Stay,” said Lance almost shyly.</p>
<p>“Wasn’t going to leave.”</p>
<p>Keith fell asleep as soon his head touched the pillow, the tension of the last few days finally gone. Lance watched his relaxed face for a while longer, deep in thought but completely at ease. He fell asleep tucked safely in Keith’s arms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Pidge walked into Black’s hangar. She had roamed all the Castleship after Keith’s departure for the Blade of Marmora, and that was the last place on the list of possible locations she expected to find the person she was looking for. Therefore, of course, he was exactly there.</p>
<p>Lance was standing before Black, frowning with his face upwards. He had took Keith’s departure quite nicely, it seemed, but after being in the same team at the Garrison Pidge knew that Lance didn’t always show what he was truly feeling.</p>
<p>She walked by his side, lifting her eyes on the Lion as well.</p>
<p>“Will you fly him now?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Mh?” mumbled Lance, distracted.</p>
<p>“Black,” Pidge clarified.</p>
<p>“Hah, no. There’s Shiro for that,” he said.</p>
<p>“You could, though?” she asked. “Are you bonded to him?”</p>
<p>Lance wrinkled his nose. “Yeah… sort of. I mean, I can feel it but it’s… distant,” he tried to explain.</p>
<p>“It already seems remarkable to me,” said the girl. Lance playfully ruffled her hair and she jokingly complained.</p>
<p>She looked at him. “Are you sad for Keith?” she asked. When Hunk had told her there was something going on between Lance and Keith, Pidge had replied to go fuck with someone else. However, paying attention to them, in the end she saw it: the fondness in Keith’s eyes, Lance’s different smile. Even if they never said a thing to anyone, they never hid it either and she was very happy for them.</p>
<p>At least until Keith decided to leave.</p>
<p>Lance shrugged. “A little bit,” he confessed. “But I understand why he left. He needs it.”</p>
<p>Pidge looked at him from the corner of her eye. Even if he was the first to deny and joke about it, since he risked his life to protect them and the Castle he had grown wiser. Now she could actually imagine a future with Lance in the Black Paladin armour. One day, maybe.</p>
<p>In case Keith didn’t come back.</p>
<p>“You know, when we phased through the Galra ship I heard Shiro’s voice,” said Lance suddenly.</p>
<p>Pidge raised is eyebrow. “At the comms?” she asked.</p>
<p>“No. It was something different. A different place,” he tried to explain. “Maybe I dreamt it,” he said then, snorting.</p>
<p>“You almost died doing that stunt, perhaps you confused the radio with something else,” she said as an explanation. “Let’s go now, it’s dinner time. Hunk is cooking tonight.”</p>
<p>Lance nodded. He gazed at Black for another minute then turned around, walking away with her.</p>
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